Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Star Tours 1987-2010

I just found out yesterday that Star Tours, a Star Wars based ride at Disneyland is closing its doors for a new ride, Star Tours II. This makes me feel both happy and sad. I am sad to see a beloved ride leave. Star Tours opened in 1987 at Disneyland, at that time I was a 7 year old kid so I was of the perfect age to love the ride, which I did.

I can somewhat recall my first time on Star Tours, the wait seemed to take days... and that was just to get inside. The first time I went on the ride I believe hearing the wait was 3 hours. Once you finally got inside the actual Star Tours building you are greeted by a replica of the Starspeeder 3000 (the ship you ride) being repaired and C-3P0 and R2D2. It was a lot to take in as a kid, seeing actual characters from the Star Wars movie! I remember also the first time I rode Star Tours that it threw me around with all its twists and turns. As I grew up I would always long for the feelings of that first time, not knowing which way the ship would turn and being small enough to not be able to hold on. Of course I couldn't write this blog without mentioning Captian Rex, the man in charge of the Starspeeder 3000. Until recently I never knew he was voiced by Paul Reubens aka Pee Wee Herman. His famous line always is worth a chuckle. "I know this is probably your first flight, and it's mine too, ha ha."

Check out this commerical for the ride,badass!

As I grew up the ride was always a favorite of mine but as other attractions got put in the park, the lure of a ride I had been on tons of times lost some of its luster. I would always still go on the ride of course, but the small lines and my memorization of the entire ride made it loose a lot of the fun it once held. As you leave Star Tours, you see all these posters with other planets, I would often start wondering when do we get to see these other places? I guess I am getting that answer next year. Dinseyland announced that Star Tours II is coming in 2011. I am happy that the ride is getting an upgrade, Star Tours II will feature new technology and use 3D in the ride. As is set to take place sometimes between Episodes III - VI. You can see that announcement here as well as a clip from what the new ride will feature:

If you live the area, I would suggest going on one last trip on the ride. I wish I could! But now I am 100% going to make sure that I am going to Disneyland next year to ride the next chapter of Star Tours. I just hope that it can live up to the fun that I had when I was a kid.

1 comment:

You didn't know about Reubens? I swear we discussed this like 22 years ago!?!

I had not heard about these plans until now, I am little reticent, but I'll try and be open minded (as long as it's not too prequel heavy). I guess this is Disneyland's MO now, update their rides to make them new and exciting again (submarine, Space Mountain, etc).

I also hear good things about King Kong 3-D, damn, sometime I wish I wasn't so old school, because I get more excited about anomatronics than I do about digital stuff like this.